Open your eyes
by Loveforthestory
Summary: He feels her cheek in the palm of his hand. And he demands her to open her eyes. Charlie finds out just how much the men around her are willing to fight for her. And then, many things, many frustrations and many unexplored feelings, finally reach the surface.
1. Part One

**When I was re-watching episode 9 from season one, and thinking about later episodes in season two, this one shot happened. One of my most favorite scenes from Revolution is the one in the tunnels, right under Philly. Charlie fell down on the steps, hurt, and Miles is crouched down next to her. Holding her cheek in his hand, telling her again and again to open her eyes. The emotion from Miles gets me every time I watch it. There were also scenes with Ben and Charlie in another kind of universe. I used those scenes in a different way. Adding more characters now in this story, like Rachel. Aaron. And most of all, Bass.**

 **The story is set in episode 2x20 but is build up from elements from season one. Elements I transferred through the time line all the way here.**

 **Because of the length of the one shot, there are three parts. All with their own theme and I publish the first part here today, the second and third one are coming soon.**

 _Open your eyes_

 _Part One_

Bass has just zipped up his leather jacket to keep the bitter cold out. Many men and woman sit around small fires. Duncan's men, as they would used to fight with a woman that had been his friend after the mess that was the Tower, now gone forever. He had fought to satisfy his own deep hunger for revenge, but also for her. For their friendship as he had lead the attack on the kaki camp not long ago. He had barely kept his shit together when Scanlon had told him the news that she was killed by those assholes. The fact that Charlie had looked like she actually fucking cared, standing right next to him had made things even fucking worse.

It is another day in a miserable grey camp. Another day of waiting, when all he wants to do is fight those assholes and show them what revenge looks like. Something is in the air. His experience as a General and years in the field make him aware of every fucking sound. He feels it creeping up to him and into camp. His kid is on his right doing absolutely fucking nothing then just sit on his ass and stare with the stubborn bad mood of a five year old. Things between them have cooled down fast the last few days. They don't speak.

Bass is cleaning his knife. And then he hears it.

The General in him wakes up the moment he feels the shift in his camp. His hand goes instantly to his gun as it reaches him like a December wind that picks up and plays with the withered leaves on the forest ground. A ripple of men shouting moves through camp. People get up. People start to move.

Bass' eyes narrow a bit with his hand firmly around his weapon. He is assessing the situation and the level of threat. His mind is working fast. And he hears it again. Shouts of how someone has collapsed. Sharp shouts for help follow. And then, he turns cold from within. Because now it is just one voice.

The voice of a brother he carries so close under his skin.

'It's Charlie. Charlie.'

He starts to run. Bass shoves people away as he tries to reach where the screaming is coming from. He wants to fucking reach Miles. Charlie. Now. He hears a wild hysterical scream, a _No_ tunred into despair in a primal scream from Rachel.

He watches the old man run from the tent he set up to see people who needed medical attention across camp towards the place where people have circled around. Staypuft is not far. Rachel is crashing through her knees next to long messy golden blonde curls.

Bass had seen her a couple of hours ago. Walking through camp. Jacket, boots, weapons strapped around her hips. Her hair closely flowing around her neck and tucked into her jacket, her hair flowing to one shoulder under that jacket to keep the cold out. And now, she is on the ground with her eyes closed as Bass watches how Miles has just reached her and scoops her up in his arms.

 _God. Fuck. Charlie._

* * *

'They have taken her, Aaron.' Aaron blinks at Priscilla.

The commotion had reached them fast and he had walked out the room he had spend time in with Priscilla, while she was listening to a freaking walk man. She had followed with curiosity in her eyes as Aaron had left her sitting there as the first shouts outside had reached him.

For one moment, he sees his wife. He sees the woman he loves and misses so much, in there.

Aaron watches a hysterical Rachel as he turns his head back to the spot in their camp before him. Rachel is kneeling next to Charlie who is Miles' arms. Gene is rushing to their side. Monroe is standing behind Miles with a wild shock in his eyes and his mouth slightly open and a weapon in hand and eyes that follow Miles's every movement. Eyes that are on Charlie.

Charlie who is laying with her eyes closed on the ground. One mother next to her, screaming at Miles and Gene to do something.

Two generals close to her, to Charlie, who are not letting her out of their sight. One holding her face in one hand. And one general fighting to keep his own emotions in check.

Miles' face is older and his eyes darker than Aaron has ever seen, aimed at Charlie. Rachel telling her daughter to wake up with a firm demanding voice like only Rachel can. With guilt visible and tearing right through her whole body. Miles 'hand is still around Charlie's cheek and does not leave that spot. Demanding from her, to open her eyes. He sounds like the General that Aaron had seen many times before.

But this is not a General, Aaron corrects himself. This is a man terrified to lose everything. Her. Charlie.

Just like the rest of them.

Aaron looks back at Priscilla. Doubting he has heard her right. Praying he has misunderstood her as he closes his eyes for a second, swallowing away panick. Because when she speaks again, her voice is colder than it should be. Colder then he remembered. And he knows this is not his wife. This is his wife taken over by a code he had created without even knowing himself at the moment. A woman, a machine now, that wants to try pizza and listen to music. Priscilla tucked deep in there, the Nano holding her prison.

'We have taken her, Aaron.' Priscilla says, her emotions almost out of her voice. Only leaving a cold kind of nauseating curiosity in her eyes that makes Aaron want to throw up. And Aaron feels guilt and horror wash over him, as he realises what she is saying.

* * *

Bass watches Miles, his brother crouched down next to his niece. Hell, he knows the truth, he has seen it in Miles' eyes. A niece he loves as a daughter.

It is a scene straight from hell and there is nothing he can do this time.

He can't slice his way through assholes in a bar for touching her. He can't snap his fingers in front of Gould to take the weasel's eyes away from her. He can't go back for her in an empty school.

Through the fear of losing Charlotte, he feels rage boil. That cold all consuming fear is never long there, because he uses rage as his shield from too much emotion he cannot and does not allow himself to feel. He does know rage. He lets it flow through him like an old friend. Fear makes you vulnerable and it numbs you, rage sets you on fire to protect the people you love.

His fingers ache to wrap themselves around Rachel's neck for whatever the fuck she and Ben had done. Not only for what it had cost him personally, images now too close of a woman he once loved and a baby girl in his arms. Not only for the way she had kept her mouth shut when she knew how to turn back the power on.

But he is aching to wrap his fingers around her neck and ask her if she is happy now. With her selfish decisions and a kid on the ground. For the way her fucking mess had reached Charlie.

Bass looks at Rachel. At Staypuft, at his creepy as fuck girlfriend. And then Bass watches Miles again. Miles' feet in the sandy dirty grass. One hand next to Charlie's head, leaning over her. Tears in his dark brown eyes. His other hand cupping her face so fucking gently Bass has to brace himself for not losing his shit right there. Connor is standing behind him ,but Bass can only look at the two people before him.

* * *

Miles has seen her go down. She was walking through camp one moment. And one moment later it had looked like her knees had not been working anymore. And she had hit the ground.

He had seen it from his spot in the tent Gene and Rachel had basically kept him hostage in after he had lead the Rangers on a goose chase gone to hell and he had been stabbed in the stomach. He had been doing better, and he was about to get his ass up from the stretcher he had to spend too much time on when he had seen her go down. Fear shot its way straight to his heart in a cold icy jolt. One thing hammering through his chest like his wild heartbeat. He had forgotten all about the stabbing wound as he had run for her, to reach her, to get her, to catch her.

Every couple of feet of distance between him and Charlie feeling like an eternity. And all he had been able to do was scream her name, right through camp. To get help. And yell for her, to her. _Charlie. Charlie._

He has no idea what the hell happened. Or is happening to her. He is looking at her. Feeling her right under his fingertips. She is breathing. She seems fine. Not hurt. He runs the lists in his head for possibilities that keep Charlie away from him with her eyes closed. They check her for wounds they somehow missed. Nothing. Gene examines her. Nothing again.

Rachel is looking at him so helplessly he does not know what to do anymore.

So he holds her, gently, her face in his hand, with his fingers wrapped around her skin. Her warm skin in the palm of his hand.

'Open your eyes, Charlie.' He tells her again and again. And then he feels a flood of rage for the possibility of losing her and what she has gone through already. His voice is strong and thick and tears break free from his eyes and reach his lips.

' Open your eyes, Charlie.'

And then Miles looses it. His voice turns into strong loving despair, a demand for her not to go, not to leave them.

'Dammit, Charlie. Open your eyes.' His voice is rough and strong and gentle at the same time. Fear of losing her closing his throat with the salty taste of tears.

He feels the acid taste of loss too close in the back of his throat. He can't lose her. Not Charlie. He has already left her alone, too damn long in that hole in the ground he had climbed out of when she needed him after Austin.

Guilt, fear, more guilt for leaving her alone. He is here now.

'Come one Charlie. You can count on me, you know that. I am here.' He demands her to wake up as Rachel is sitting next to him, holding parts of Charlie he can't embrace with his arms.

'Rachel...' Aaron's voice is small behind them. "Rachel I am sorry but...'

'Not now Aaron!' Miles yells at him, looking at Charlie, never looking away from her.

'What Aaron?' Rachel spits out with venom of Aaron daring to take her away from Charlie.

'I think the nano is holding Charlie.

Rachel looks from her daughter to Aaron, whipping her tears back with the back of her hand as it grows eerily silent around them. Miles looks to Aaron, absolotely in horror for what Aaron just told him. Aaron has not seen Miles panicked or with fear in his eyes, but right now, he is looking at dark brown eyes of horror, shock and fear. And then, he sees rage fire up in Miles' eyes. The start of rage is moved away again by shock, as Miles looks from him to Rachel.

Aaron starts to explain, about Priscilla, about the past few weeks. And Rachel's eyes fill with guilt and then with cold blue fire. She pushes herself up from the ground and storms away from Charlie as she marches to Priscilla, her mouth twisting with fire and rage.

She stops straight in front of Priscilla who looks just flatly and with curiosity to Rachel.

'You are my damn science project and you are letting her go. You will give me back my daughter.' Rachel demands, spitting out the words to Priscilla, to the Nano.

It is the force of Rachel that makes Priscilla frown as she look at Charlie.

'We see we have upset you.' Priscilla says. She frowns again. And then smiles with an icy shiver in her face, looking from Rachel to Charlie. Almost filled with too much glee for what is happening right in front of her eyes. '

Rachel is still standing right in front of Priscilla. Her eyes furious with cold anger.

Priscilla almost smiles at her.' You have created us. And now, we see so much. And we find you so very interesting. Theres is so much contradiction in you, Rachel.'

Priscilla looks at Rachel with a tilt of her head and big eeri eyes. 'You want to save the world from what you have done to it. To set things straight, for them. For Charlie. And yet, you can almost not love your daughter through all your guilt. Not in the way you want to.'

Rachel almost flinches but she does not move away from the woman in front of her.

'Rach, what the hell is she talking about.' Miles says, his voice wild and more fear burning in his heart. This is an enemy he cannot see, he cannot fight. He has no idea in hell how to keep Charlie safe now he can't.

Miles does not know what the hell happens, but finally, finally Charlie starts to stir in his hand, as Charlie slowly starts to move her lips and head.

* * *

She feels a large hand, cupped around her cheek. But she can also take in her father's scent. He is here. Here in a living room that is cosy and warm and safe. And filled with Ben Matheson.

A father she knows that cannot be there for real. But it is warm here, and she is tired. So tired. She opens her eyes and sits on a couch. The room looks like a home, but she knows with her instincts this is not any of her homes she once called home. Her father is busy in a small kitchen of the small room. The sun shining through the room _._ Brushes of sun reach the fabric on the couch.

 _Charlie, open your eyes. Charlie_.

She knows that voice. It is warm. And real. And she knows him, she can see dark brown real eyes. It just took a very a long time to realise it. Although she does not know how long it has been. She gets up as Ben has walked towards her. Charlie takes him in, every line of his face, every look of his gentle eyes. Dad. Not letting herself feel the grieve. just look, she tells herself. Look at him, soak him up. Love him. Here.

She wants to hug her father. One more time. Feel him, hug him. She knows she has to go. So she tells him she loves him. The sun next to them, is low, a golden circle streaming in golden light.

It is taking everything she has left. But she has to go. She takes in her father's scent and then says goodbye. _Charlie. Open your eye_ s. She lets the voice take her back to where she belongs. She hugs her dad, one more time. 'I love you dad. You know that right? I love you.' She repeats those words in her mind over and over again. I love you. I love you.

 _Open your eyes_.

He does not say anything back.

 _Open your eyes._

And then she is lifted up and moved away from the room. She never knows how she has gotten back. But she is back.

 _'Open your eyes, Charlie. Dammit, open your eyes.'_

When she opens her eyes, she sees his face. Torn into lines of hurt and fear and darker then she has ever seen them. She looks straight into Miles' eyes that are home to her, when she feels his warm around her. She watches him curse something in relieve and feels tears on her face that have to belong to him. To Miles.

But then, Miles _is_ there. And her father is not anymore. And that certainty is crashing into her, and sobs break free.

Bass can finally let a breath of air out, the moment he watches the relieve in his brothers shoulders. He sees Charlie move, Miles talking to her softly. And then he hears her cry. Soft heart wrenching sobs. He is looking around him, at all the people that are looking at Miles and Charlie. He needs them to fuck of.

'All right folks, show is over. Let's move.' Bass barks with thunder steel eyes. It is an undeniable order from a General. People start to move immediately.

Bass walks to Miles. Stops to give him his space.

Charlie is feeling the sobs through her body. She had him. Had her father back for just one moment. So real and so sharp it is causing her to panic for not feeling him there with her anymore. She starts to cry as Miles feels he can move her now they know she has probably no other injuries close to her head or neck. So he lifts her off the ground and holds her against his chest.

'He was there Miles...He was...' Sobs fill her body, tears fill her eyes and mouth as they drip towards her lips and moisten them. More panic from the desolation she feels now her dad is not here anymore.

'I am here kid, I am not going anywhere...' Miles is holding her, feeling so damn inadequate. So he is cradling her and softly talking to her as Miles sits with his niece on the ground. Rachel is close again but is almost frozen after the Nano's words. She gives Miles the room to comfort her child in a way she should. But she is not sure that Charlie would allow her. Aaron is looking at them.

For one second Miles looks up and watches the crowd around them, people are starting to move but he needs her to no be here anymore. To keep her away from their eyes. He is trying to get her away from the ground but a sharp pain moves through his lower stomach. 'Hell...' he curses, holding one hand over Charlie's head. Damn that stab wound.

He looks around him and finds Bass waiting for him.

'Bass..' he swallows tears away as he looks at him, 'Could you help me, get her away from all of this shit?'

Bass just nods and is already with them. Locking eyes with Miles, knowing that at that point, his brother trusts him with Charlie. And it shoots straight to his chest.

'Bass is going to take care of you, all right kid?' Miles says firmly but softly to Charlie. 'And I am right here.' Bass can hear the sound of aching tears in the back of his brother's throat. Rachel tries to to step in and moves closer to Charlie. She tries to let Charlie's hand slide in hers but Charlie pulls away from her mother in a small but forcefull movement.

Rachel tries to mask the hurt but she can't. Charlie knows her mom wants to reach her and part of her still wants to reach out to her mom, but she can't. Not when her dad had been so close to her just now. Not when he is a reminder, of how alone Charlie had felt seeing her mother dissapear to never return only to find her again years later in Philly, knowing she left by choice.

Bass sees how Rachel cringes under Charlie's rejection. What the hell did she expect? Leave her kids all alone at the side of a fucking road, come to Miles and him instead of Ben and whatever the hell she was denying to feel for Miles? And Charlie welcoming her back with a fucking tea party? He shakes his head at Rachel with a dark look in his eyes. He then focusses on Charlie again.

He moves through his knees and lowers his body gently next to Charlie to scoops her up in his arms. He places one arm under her knees as Miles gently guides Charlie from his chest to Bass' chest. Bass pushes himself up without much effort, having Charlie's weight and her body in his arms once more.

She is still crying. And looking now directly at him. Bass is holding his breath as he is holding Charlie. He watches her normally so strong clear eyes filled with grey, liquid tears and grieve. He knows that grieve and he feels tension in his gut for her, and more rage for what the hell just happened to her. He is sick to his stomach having to watch a Miles who was only able to wait.

Bass is sick to his stomach he could not get her out of whatever the hell just happened. But he can get her away from all these eyes.

Rachel throws him a cold look and Bass' rage starts to come out in his steel blue eyes aimed at her. Daring Rachel to open her damn mouth and make this all about her. Again.

Then he decides quickly and effortlesy that his one and only priority is now Charlie. he gets them both up from the ground as he adjusts her in his arms.

'Hey, you are okay, we will take care of you, Charlie.' It is out there before Bass knows he has said it. His voice is more low then he had expected it to find.

Instead of pushing him away she moves her head into the crook of his neck. Her fingers grabbing his leather jacket. She closes her eyes the moment she feels and hears Miles walking right next to them. Next to her. Next to Bass.

Charlie feels the rhythm of his boots under her as Bass is taking her somewhere. Somewhere she knows she will be okay. Right now she needs any kind of comfort from something that nocked her of her feet and she does not understand. And she finds it against the chest that belongs to Monroe. She finds it knowing Miles is close as the scent of his leather jacket is calming her down.

* * *

 **Authors Note Thanks so much for reading everyone! What can you expect from the second part? A fight from hell between Rachel and Miles. Rachel slapping Miles. Miles taking care of Charlie. Bass taking care of her too. And a lot of Bass' rage for Rachel finally breaking through the surface. See you there? Love from Love**


	2. Part Two

Open your eyes

Part two

Bass kneels down with Charlie in his arms. He has walked her back to the fire he had just been sitting in front of. Gene is fetching some blankets from their tent not too far away. Charlie feels so damn small in his arms. And as the sobbing slowly comes to a stop, the shivering starts. Bass feels her tremble in his arms. Her hand, that somehow landed against his shirt under his jacket, feels like ice through his shirt.

'Hurry the hell up with those blankets old man.' Bass' barked order oves through most of the camp as it reaches Gene.

God, he swears, doc's concept of running is a pathetic excuse for running. Bass face is sharp, there is irritation in his eyes. But then his eyes are again on Charlie.

She hears Monroe bark something high above her. She feels his chest against her cheek. She feels drained. There is however no hurt, no pain. Just aching grieve for her father she had to leave behind in a room with a low hanging sun shining through the window right behind them. She feels her body filled with aching grieve and feeling so low on energy. And coldness seeping through, like she cannot maintain the warmth inside of her.

She feels arms that are strong but are at the same time gentle. From far away and with teeth chattering together with coldness she thinks his arms should not feel this gentle. This is Monroe. Comfort should come from anyone else. From Aaron. Miles. Not from him. But yet somehow, only seconds, or minutes ago, she is not sure anymore, she had reached out for his jacket. Needing him to not go.

Realisation slowly creeping in that it is really his hard chest she is laying against. Crying, shivering. He feels too far away, his voice so strange, so far. She feels dizzy and for one moment she is afraid she will slide back into whatever world she had just been living. And then panic returns, this time for loosing herself again in another world in her mind.

She knows she is clinging, hanging on, grabbing on to him. And Charlie does not cling. But she needs him to anchor her. He seems to understand because he is is whispering lowly to her.

'Miles and I are here Charlie, we are not going anywhere ..' Bass tries to comfort her, as he keeps on talking to her.

He looks at her wild eyes and panic and not understanding what is happening to her and his heart fucking breaks with her tears streaked cheeks against his damn leather jacket and heart.

More cold shatters through her body, this time in the form of fear for loosing where she is again.

Her thoughts go back to her dad. Telling herself it was not real. To stay here. To not slip back. To breathe, willing herself to calm down. But nothing is working as panic is starting to grow fast. She thinks about her dad. Thoughts go to the last time she saw him. And then to Miles, and panic starts to spread even faster. She needs Miles, she can't lose him again. She had just found him again in a field of high grass on an abandoned golf course.

'Hey Charlie, it is all right. Miles is here.' Bass says lowly.

He sees the panic spread in her eyes as her blue eyes start to look around her, her hands now unsteady, her body so tenses. He knows who she wants. Miles just crouches down next to them. Charlie feel how Bass is slowly moving her. She is then moved against another chest.

'Hey kid, we've got you.' Miles says as he moves her into his arms, as he sits down next to Bass.

His wound still hurts like hell but he does not care. He needs to feel Charlie close. Check again and again she is alive. Here. Breathing.

Blankets are tucked around her. She looks up and sees Monroe looking at her and his large hands and gentle movements so close as they are adjusting the blankets so she is trapped between warm blanket and a warm chest that belongs to Miles.

He sits with her, holds her. Aaron is not far, as Bass is sitting next to them, making sure the fire keeps on going. Looking from the fire and back to him and Charlie again. Miels feels how Charlie is slowly getting warmer. Her breathing is returning to normal. And as Miles holds her, his eyes go to Bass and then to Rachel. Then to Bass again.

His brother's eyes wait for him with the deep broody looks Miles so well. They both feel the same. The world tilting, the result of that now asleep and almost taken from them in his arms. And one look at Rachel, and both Miles and Bass know, that she knows more. Both men are looking at Rachel as she is talking to Aaron in hushed whispers and big blue eyes.

So here they are the hell again, with them in the dark and Rachel knowing more about this. And Miles sees what he feels reflected in Bass' eyes as Bass eyes scream thunder and rage. And Miles know that another storm is coming with Rachel.

* * *

Aaron had said goodbye to Charlie, she had been deep asleep but still had been nodding at him when she woke up for a couple of seconds of goodbye. He tried to stay strong, to keep it together in front of Miles and Monroe.

Guilt for what happened earlier tugs at his heart. He had brought Priscilla back with him to this camp. He had written a code a long time ago creating the Nano that was deep inside of her. And today, after everything he and Ben and Rachel did to this world, today it became more personal and guilt filled than it had been in a long time. Charlie on the ground, the Nano taking her for long excruciating minutes.

Tears do ambush him. He sees two men, brothers, Generals, leaders who watch over her. Caring for Charlie but with dark edges on their faces that tells him how much rage lays right under the surface waiting to burst out.

So he pushes his tears back, and grabs his pack and moves to Priscilla waiting for him at the edge of camp. The Nano inside of her told him with glee in Priscilla's eyes they had to go. And after the request for pizza and music they want more. Aaron does not want to go, he knows that. He wants his wife back.

But the Nano cannot stay here, not anymore. So after talking to Rachel, explaining to her everything what the Nano told him, he knows he is leaving and following Nano Priscilla, his wife. Keeping his wife safe, not leaving her behind this time. But he will and have to find a way to destroy the Nano. And Rachel, Rachel had just told him she is joining them.

She is going to tell Miles now. And he really, _really_ does not want to stay around for that conversation as he readjusts his backpack on his back. Aaron adjusts the glasses on his nose, as he looks one more time at Charlie. He knows this little girl since she was in pigtails and was still stuck in a land between ballet shoes and a crossbow. He failed her, he failed this world.

He now has to set things straight.

* * *

Rachel walks with rigid stiff steps to Miles. Miles watches Rachel walk over to him and Charlie. One look at her eyes tell him they will fight. He cannot take anymore from her. The guilt from years and years ago, from their ugly fling when they were kids how Rachel called it herself, to not finding her, Ben and the kids after the blackout, for keeping her locked in Philly, all that guilt finally moves away to biting words and so much that reaches the surface after months on the road.

'Take care of her, will you?' Miles turns to Bass. Bass nods, taking Charlie from him and putting her near a safe spot next to him, near the fire. Bass watches Charlie, asleep. He sits next to her and the fire. Making sure no one is going to fucking touch her.

Miles looks to Rachel, grabbing her arm and guiding her towards a place further away from the fire he has just left Bass and Charlie. Charlie has been through enough, she really does not need right now what is going to happen next.

Rachel eyes find his.

'So more of your Nano crap, isn't it.' Miles almost hisses at Rachel. He cannot hide his frustration for what the hell jus happened.

Rachel is standing right in front of him. The guilt and fear of losing Charlie tucked away in deep staring blue eyes. 'Miles...I..' Rachel Matheson is unsure of how to tell Miles what she is going to ask of him again.

'Look at what you did to Charlie!' Miles loses it, his voice thundering towards Rachel.

Miles knows he has gone too far. It was not just Rachel. It had been Benjamin too. And Aaron. But right now, he does not care. Rachel _is_ standing right in from of him. And he so very pissed and hurt and enraged by almost losing Charlie and for the world she had to grow up in that his words are fuel on a fire that is about to explode right in front of them.

'What in the hell happened, Rach.' Miles reigns in his anger as best as he can. He pronounces each and every word in contained anger. Rachel explains to him in short words an quick lines what she knows. About a code, about the Nano. About the Nano in Priscilla.

When Miles listenes to her in disbelieve and shick Rachel looks from im to Charlie.

'Miles I have to go...' Rachel looks from Miles to Charlie.

'Oh hell no Rach..' Miles starts, knowing where this is going.

He had seen her walking into stables when she walked to Philly. Expecting Ben, watching the woman and an affair the Miles was not proud of walking into their compound in Philly. He had seen her walk away from Charlie when she just had to go to the tower to blow herself and his best friend up with a grenade. Leaving Charlie behind, again.

Rachels' mouth starts to twitch.

'I need you to take better care of her then you ever did for me for me.' Her voice is husky and raspy, so unlike her.

'Isn't that supposed to be your job?' Miles shoots back. And there is so much hurt and venom in those words, that Rachel flinches.

Rachel slaps Miles in the face so hard that Bass sees his brother almost take a step back. His body is tensing up again.

Rachel feels her hand connect with his face. He is right, she kows that. And it brings out rage in the form of a frustrated slap against the skin of a man she loves.

Miles is quiet, as rage is pulsing through his face. He almost grabs Rachel and pulls her close as he feels the intense need to inflict pain, any kind of pain. It is him and Rachel. Just like it had been near that wagon a decade ago when he had been General of a whole damn Militia and when she had lead him to abandoned houses in search of Ben, Charlie and Danny. And he had almost punched her there, just stopping inches in front of her face, just like he is feeling rage pumping in his veins now.

But there is something in him left, _Charlie, mostly Charlie, and who and what they once all were,_ that stops him.

Rachel and Miles are standing close, both breathing hard.

'Miles, I have to make this right. I have to stop the Nano before it is too late.' She is pleading now, eyes filling with tears but her voice strong. 'I have to go with Aaron.'

Miles sighs. Hell, he had never been able to deal with her in tears.

' And leave her, again? Do you have any idea what this will do to her?' Miles' voice peaks with disbelieve and frustrsation again. 'Rach, she is right there...' he looks at Charlie, 'and you are what, leaving her again?' There is sharp pain for Charlie in his voice.

'She has you now Miles.' Rachel says quietly, knowing she has to go. Wishing she could stay. Whishing things had been different with her and Charlie, after what she had put her girl through.

She watches too many emotions on Miles' face she can't deal with. Emotions she knows he cannot deal with either. He does not talk anymore as she feels how something breaks between them. For good.

Rachel nods as she waits for him to nod back, promising her he will take care of her. Miles does nod, but he also knows that something between them is fucking lost for them never to find it again. For good.

Rachel thinks about kissing him, but she can't. The man in front of her will not allow her. Or maybe he will but she has no more strength to find out. She walks over to Charlie, Bass still sitting next to her. He just looks at her and then looks away, but he never moves away from Charlie.

Rachel's mouth twitches and then she leans in as she kisses Charlie goodbye, tears in a strong motherly kiss. She knows she is failing hopelessly again. As a mother, to her. To her little girl. But guilt, so much guilt for ruining this world is almost consuming her.

And isn't it a deeply twisted irony that her guilt for and hunger for saving this world and making things right for her, _for Charlie_ , takes her away, again, from Charlie. When she leaves she knows she will add only more hurt. But she has to go. Charlie is all grown up now. She will leave her with Miles.

Rachel caresses Charlie's forehead before she walks away from her child, near a fire. As she is leaving her with two men, with Miles and Bass.

This time she is the one out there, as Charlie stays with the both of them. And she feels the sting of jealousy, that has been there before. Watching her daughter talk to Miles, watching her daughter's heart free and strong to give a second chance to Bass. Because Charlie, she choses to fight with both Miles and Bass freely. They look out for her, freely. Something Rachel cannot reach or understand.

She then walks to Miles, who is looking at the ground in front of him. She caresses his cheek with her hand. Her hands now in her pockets. 'I will be back Miles.'

Miles waits, but right before Rachel walks away he grabs her and moves her closer into a deep hard kiss. She has not time to move her hands or arms around her as he already let her go. So she looks at Charlie one more time, ignoring Bass. She looks at Miles one more time. And then,she grabs her pack, hiding tears under cold blue eyes as she nods at Aaron to go.

* * *

She is almost out of camp and a little behind Aaron and Priscilla when she feels a cold grasp of harsh fingers around her arm. It is Bass that turns her towards him in one rough turn. His fingers dig deep into her arm. He does not seem to notice or to care.

But Rachel knows the truth. This man knows what he is doing.

'You might be giving me all the looks you want Rachel. Telling yourself I am the big bad here when you are not able to sleep. Dragging Miles into the mud with you. But look at you, leaving Charlie behind huh. Voluntary Rach, because no one is forcing you here.' Bass spits into her face, his face close to hers. There is a lace of hate and cold in his every word.

Rachel 's eyes spit fire into his eyes. Bass won't let her go.

He is done, done with all her holier than thou bullshit. Done with keeping his mouth shut.

'You can tell me over and over again how bad a father I am. What a monster I am. But lady , I know you. You are a screw driver wielding psychopath...' Bass words are filled with venom, aimed at Rachel.

But he cannot keep the hurt out of his eyes for every damn time he had to listen to all her accusations. She broke this world, kept her mouth shut about it for years and he, god dammit, he lost, so fucking much too. She is not the only one who had lost a child to this world.

'..and a stone cold bitch for leaving Charlie.' Bass adds. His face is close to hers, that Rachel can feel Bass breathe. 'Again.'

Hate, and jealousy for the bond Bass is forming with not only Miles again, but with her daughter too boil under the surface. Rachel knows what he did for Charlie, what she did for him. Her asking her to spare his life. Staying behind in Vegas to make sure Bass got out too. Him saving her child when she had let Charlie walk away when she had been staring at her from her bedroom window in Willoughby instead of stopping knows. And it adds only more weight to the jealousy that forms into more hate for Bass.

'Oh you think you have figured it all out, Bass?' Her words are low and laced with bitter disdain.

'Dam straight.' Bass bites back.

'You are nothing but an insecure child Bass, unable to bear the thought of being alone. Clinging on to Miles and Charlie so you do not have to be alone.' Rachel raises her voice.

Bass swears, he almost kills her right fucking there. For using his family, his parents, his baby sisters to get to him. She is using the day he lost his whole family in one ripping sweep against him.

His fingers almost grab her by her throat. But then he changes his mind. He realises that he will give her exactly what she wants then. Realises he can kill her of with just his words and then let her leave and live with herself.

'Then tell me Rachel, if I am _that_ bad and you are that good,' his voice sound like a finger that is about to pull the trigger, ' explain to me why you just left Charlie again. How you can leave your child behind when all I did when I found out about Connor was wanting to be with him in a heartbeat. And now I have him, if would never _ever_ leave him behind.'

He watches her eyes go wide with pain and knowing he is right. 'Just tell me, Rachel, how do you even sleep at night.'

He releases her with a sharp rough movement, making her stumble back. Her eyes are big and filled with blue hate and starting tears. He just looks at her, breathing hard. Done with her, with her and her cold stone bitch behaviour. They used to be friends. They are not anymore.

He takes a step back, and then another. Watching Staypuft and his nano creepy girlfriend looking at them. He does not give a fuck.

He leaves Rachel to go to hell with her own guilt and leaves her behind. He needs to find Miles and Charlie.

* * *

 **Author's Note Next chapter will be for Charlie and Bass. This chapter was all about the changing dynamics within the group. A shift to a new phase. It was intense but I felt that at this point in the season, things were moving to the surface. Not only between Charlie and Connor, who did not last. Connor showing how he truly felt about Miles and Charlie with not even trying to at least help Charlie when she was trying to find Miles as a repay for the things she did for him in vegas, by staying to safe his life and Bass'life. Things shifted between Charlie and Bass. Miles and Rachel, and last but not least, Bass and Rachel. But then all in a slightly different way. Part three will be published soon and will create room for Charlie and Bass. Love from Love**


	3. Part Three

_Open your eyes_

Part Three

Charlie wakes up, the memory of her mother saying goodbye still lingering inside of her. More from the feeling of not being whole or enough added to the giant abyss between her and her mom. It does not hurt as much anymore as it used to do because she is not that little girl anymore, she made sure of that herself. And her mother is not the woman she once was.

So in less than four hours, she had to say goodbye to her father again, trapped in a nano world. She had to see her mother leave again. Her life seems like an endless cycle of moves and hurt and goodby that repeat themselves.

She sits ups straight, as Bass is next to her and gives her some water.

'Drink, you need to make sure you get something in your system.'

She nods at him as she grabs his flask. Her eyes are looking into his deep ones, eyes that carry so much today. Unable to look away and yet so filled with a glowing sadness and hurt. Bass watches how her fingers curl around her flask and she puts her lips around it.

Miles crouches down in front of her. He has not the stomach to look at her. But this is Charlie, she makes you not even think about looking anyway. Her eyes connect with his. She is still a bit pale, but looking more and more like herself.

'Your mom and I, we are...' Miles does not know where to start, as he knows what he wants to tell her, but words get stuck. He thinks about the right word and fails. Because they are what? In love? Fools? Seperated? Fucking broken by what they each had done to this world?

'I'm glad you are here, Miles.' Charlie says from her place near the fire. They look at the other as he sits with her and Bass. And she does. She knows about more feelings lingering, she has watched them. She knows about hard love and loss.

'You look terrible by the way, Miles.' She almost grins at him. Her eyes light up. Something in her voice, _Matheson mockery_ , breaks all the way through his heart. Miles smiles, a weak one, but they connect through their misery. Both back into their own thoughts, but sitting together.

* * *

Her instincts tell her she needs to be alone, walk. Feel the air, hear the forest. She sneaks away when the sun is setting and the night is not far away. Her legs feel like her own again. The terror of being captured in a Nano world fading. She knows now it is the Nano. She walks as she tries out the word in her mind. _Nano_.

Although it really should have been her who told her, it had not been her mom. No, it was Aaron, leaving her a note, a letter for her to find and read when she woke up and was leaning into a wall, alone. In her hands bits of paper with drawings of tiny machines and words that Charlie did not understood. But Aaron had clarified the basics. She gets the destrying opwer of what they have created more than a decade ago.

She is strong, resilient and her will to get back to her day is stronger than to sit around and just do nothing. With Aaron's letter in the inside pocket of her jacket she walks through the forest around their camp.

And when her boots touch the leaves on the forest floor, her thoughts go back to how Miles told her everything he knows. About the Nano, Aaron, computers, codes. Her dad. Years in Philly. The story has been told in rough lines, but it is enough for now. Charlie had listened, sometimes looking at Bass who was still there, his eyes waiting for her to catch up and understand the whole story, one he had been a player in, on the blackout field as well. She had been silent, but taking blow by blow after understanding more about her parent's role. About the Nano. And what is at stake here.

Something shifted today. Miles is talking, Aaron is explaining. Charlie finds herself at a place she does not want to shut Monroe out anymore. As she is understanding how he was there too, shocked and scared, just with the rest of the world, the day power moved back into darkness and nothing would be ever the same. She had felt how she had accepted him. His hel[, his arms, his chest. She feels conflicted and washed away by so much complications for this world, created by her mom and dad. But, at least they tell her, they do not shut her out anymore.

An owl high above her makes a sound, the rest of the forest is filled by the soft steps of her boots and thoughts.

* * *

Bass is back to cleaning his knife again when he sees Charlie walk away. Alone. His brother is on his way to getting all kinds of fucking drunk, not noticing she is slipping away when Gene checks on Miles' wound in his tent. He sighs, knowing already that he will follow her. Hating himself for not being able to stay away. Bracing himself for a Charlie that will throw hell in his face for following her.

'Dammit.' He curses as he gets up from his spot at the fire. Connor looks at him, as Bass is starting to readjust his weapon near the skin of his lower back under his jacket. He looks at a last glimpse of Charlie before she disappears into the forest.

And it is the the way his kid is not even bothering to get his ass up from where he is sitting to make sure she is all right that wakes up the old rage inside in him. For the show of disrespect from Connor when it comes to Charlie, after fucking her in New Vegas. After she stayd to save both their asses from certain death in that cage amtch.

It is his complete lack of want to fight to whatever end that is there for her, for their little group, for their family for fuck sake, that makes Bass want to slap that look straight of Connor's face.

The go and _find your boyfriend_ line he got from his kid just before he went looking for Miles a couple of days, still fresh in his mind. He looks at Connor and he cannot keep his mouth shut anymore.

'You're just letting her go by herself, huh?' His head jerks to the place Charlie just dissapeared into the forest.

Connor looks with an arrogant look in his eyes from that spot and back to his dad.

'Well, since you cannot seem to stay away from her, I think she will be fine with you around following her like some lost puppy. It seems to be a thing for you and the Mathesons, dad.' Connor spits out that last word as an insult.

Bass almost storms to Connor. The urge to put a fist in his face for what he has just said almost too big. He breathes in harshly. He stands right in front of his kid. Connor is looking at him and he is looking at connor.

God, disappointment is not far. When he met Charlie he was blown away with her loyalty, her unable to walk away from a fight that had to be fought. Connor fights too, but not with her steady moral. He fights because there has to be something in it for him. Bass is disappointed. Once he had been that guy fighting for what he believed in. Even when Miles was already wasting guys near tents two years after the blackout.

It is fucking hard to see the darkness in his own kid, his blood streaming through his veins.

But he also knows there is one woman that demands more of him. That can cast away darkness and the world that had moved him to where he is fucking now. That makes him feel like that Bass, lost long ago in time and despair and loss.

 _You don't deserve her. You don't get to have her. Not anymore._ His thoughts circle around in his head.

Bass adjusts the weapon against his lower back and then starts to move towards the line of trees Charlie just disappeared into.

* * *

Charlie can hear him. She knows it is him. 'Get away from me, Monroe.' She does not stop walking, she does not turn to see who is there. Charlie knows she is not alone, and when she heard another sound a couple of seconds ago, she knows instinctively who is there.

'Charlie...I just want to make sure you are all right, okay?' Bass tries, his voice low and calm. Keeping his distance but still walking behind her. Feeling how far that moment already fucking is, when it had been her in his arms. He is scanning the surroundings for any kind of threat. Neville, those kaki assholes. They are all still there.

 _Make sure you are all right_. Charlie hears his words and remembers everything that has been going on earlier when she lets out a huff of angry air. All right from what? After what? Trapped in a Nano world, her mom leaving. Him there, Miles there. Connor not even bothering to check if she is all right.

She is not all right. She feels anger and irritation, and fear and doubt and hurt and more fear.

'I know you need space Charlie, but come on, it is not safe here. Let's just go back, all right?' She hears Monroe try, try to reach her, try to take her away from everything she pushed behind some wall when it comes to him. It is too much. It all adds up to everything else she is feeling.

It all collides and comes out in one angry scream aimed at him. With one swift sharp turn on her feet she is turned around so she can face him.

'You don't understand.' Charlie yells at him, anger and despair battling to be heard first.

Charlie turns so suddenly that she catches him of guard. Her wide blue eyes pierce into his. And for the first time she lets him see the misty rain in those normally so clear strong blue eyes of hers.

He knows she is not just being stubborn. She needs her space and dammit, he understands that. But in this world, not paying attention can have you killed. Can have her killed. And his worry almost turns into saying something cruel and add poising to a conversation that is heading all the wrongs ways but he just fucking can't.

He is good, very good at reading people, finding their weak spots and play it out. But with her, there are a whole new set of rules.

'I can't go back...' her voice is still strong but softer now.

So he keeps his dam mouth shut. He watches her trying to keep it together.

'What if they take me again. What if...' She catches her breath, feeling like her chest is constricting with fear and shame and doubt. 'What if they turn me, what if I hurt one of you guys?'

 _What if I turn out to become Jason._ She tells him that last part with just her eyes.

And there it is, the truth she was not willing to share with him. It is the reason why she chooe to move Neville away from camp, instead of marching him straight back into theirs and give him Monroe's head on a silver platter. She felt she had no other choice when Neville told her he would work his way through all of them, through Monroe to get to the truth and find his son. The fact that of loosing Monroe, had been crashing and had made her almost stumble with confusion.

She just cannot not fight for him. For Monroe, Bass. He is within the group of people she can't bear to lose.

Bass knows what it costs her to put this on the damn table. He already knows she will fight with him. Stay loyal to the people she enters a fight with.

But she has just fucking told him she wil also fight for him.

They have just reached dangerous personal territory. He watches her eyes fill again with the wall he has worked so long for to break through.

Charlie looks at him, looking away from her. She can see him cursing something in head.

And then, he uses the fact he is taller and stronger to his advantage. He pulls her in, not letting her go when she starts to protest. She pushes at first but the moment he has her, oh that moment. Arms, his arms, are locking around her, with a certainty and security that make her burry her head right under his wide jaws and chin.

He knows she is scared. He can feel her tremble against his chest. Hell, they should all be scared with whatever is waiting for them. But right now, she is all that matters. So he holds her. His hand wrapped protectively over her head and hair, her head under the palm of his hand. Calloused fingers wrap themselves through her soft long locks.

Bass feels how she raises her hands and puts them around his jacket, one hand on each of his wide strong sides. Her hands now closing in on her shoulders and back.

'We won't let that happen Charlie. Miles and I will fight in whatever way we can for you.'

He almost tilts his head further down, her hair softly against his beard as he cannot help but want to bury his nose into her hair. But he stops himself, tells himself to gain some kind of resemblance control.

Charlie feels she is trembling, but she cannot stop herself. Loosing Jason, Neville pulling the trigger, facing death so close in the eyes, again. Almost loosing Miles. The grip of the Nano. Having to leave people, her dad, behind. Again. her mom walking away from her. Again.

Knowing now more of the yers after her mom had walked over to him and Bass. Miles telling her, finally telling her the truth. Knowing that Miles did unspeakable things in his past. Knowing now what her dad did too. Her mom. Aaron. What Bass did. But then again, so did Miles. So did her father, so did her mom. And she loves them anyway, unable not to feel that love.

And Bass, Bass is holding her. Monroe is holding her. Bass has not left her. He is here, with her. Taking the time to follow her, stay with her through her dakrest moments and worst fears. And she knows, she has just told him the truth. She cannot lose him too. _Because..._ She stops that thought. She knows why she cannot leave him, cannot not fight for him, with him. She is just not ready to think it. To talk about it. But she is already feeling it.

So she shows him.

He shows her the same.

Charlie trembles for what lays ahead. The truth about her parents and the nano. She trembles for what was. For what could happen. For what they all have to face and what it can cost them.

Bass moves his hand over her cheek. The palm of his hand warm and comforting.

And she cannot look away, because she finally understands more of the tall man in front of her. General. President. Fighter. Warrior. Father. Brother. Monroe.

Bass.

He had lost his way in this world. A world her parents broke. He had kept her mother prison for years. But she understood now, she understood mroe from the fear from a dark blackout world. From a fear what could eb out there to cause it all. Because today, that fear, in the form of the Nano, had been inside her mind. Inside her heart. He, and Miles, had wanted the truth from her momther before it became a quest for power.

Slowly, realisation is setting in.

And all the way through those thoughts, he is still looking at her. Watching her. He would still take a bullet for her. She just knows. Just like she cannot leave him behind. Not on his way in a cage to an execution. Not on his way to giving his life for his son in Vegas. She will walk right beside him for all of it. She has already done that in the past.

Time passes.

She finally sees the man behind the control and raging madness she has seen from him. She sees the hurt.

She reaches out, her fingers trying to sooth some of the pain, so much pain in his eyes. She watches his adam's apple move, as Bass swallows hard. Her fingers move to his moustache, to his beard as she gently touches him. Her fingers slide over the side of a strong neck to the V of his shirt. Sweat and warm skin under her fingers.

And then, she has to dive in. Give in. As she slowly stands on her toes to reach his mouth with hers. Bass feels the pressure build in his chest, heart and jaws.

He meets her. In the middle of new ground under their feet.

He moves her closer to where he needs Charlie. His mouth is moving over hers when his hand cups her cheek, almost shielding her face from any eyes he does not want on her. From any kind of hurt he does not want to find her.

Because in that moment, she is fucking his to take, to kiss. Loyalty from both of them is in that kiss. Fighting is in that kiss. Her gratitude for saving her life swirls around their tongues meeting, his gratitude for saving his life lays in a deep grunt that moves from his chest between them.

The kiss deep and long as Bass catches her lips with his and guides her through the kiss.

When Charlie feels how Bass breaks the kiss slowly, his mouth hovers over hers as his hand moves from her cheek and neck and hair. Catching her before his mouth moves closer to her ear without breaking eye contact.

'Still got your back, Charlie.'

And she knows, he is referring to one night in one bar, where their road had started.

She looks to find his eyes. Blinks.

'I would never leave you behind, Bass.' Charlie says with a serious frown.

He answers her with the same look he gave her in a high school hallway. It is deep, and so unlike him and filling her heart in impossible ways.

'Thank you, Bass.' A small nod, her voice already strong and fierce but nevertheless, gratitude put into words that she had wanted to share with him for a very long time now.

'Anytime Charlotte.' It is the first time he uses her name like that, like it is something deeply personal and intimate, just between them.

He moves next to her as they both start to walk. His large hand and strong fingers have moved to the nape of her neck and then places them right above her shoulderblades. Fingers caressing in support. Loyalty, telling her he is there.

He nods at her to walk back to camp, she follows him as his taller body is next to her slender one. His hand and arm now moving around her shoulder.

And Charlie realises, there is some hope she carries with her now. Now that she has said out loud, to herself, to him, she will fight for him. With him. Hope that Bass will call her Charlotte again in the way way he just did, in that low raspy soothing way that belongs to him, and she hopes he will do that many times down the road they fill fight together.

 _The end or...to be continued in many other stories_

* * *

 **Author's note This one shot is a little glimpse at a certain moment in this season. It was about changing dynamics and anger and hurt finally reaching the surface. And Rachel left again, but this time Charlie stayed with Miles and Bas, I wanted to conclude this one shot here with Bass and Charlie not only showing and knowing they have each other's backs, but also with more. A first kiss, words and them walking through that forest together, knowing there is no other way but to fight this together now. With some hope in a lot of darkness. Thanks for reading! Love from Love**


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